Blue Diamond Canyon 5 / Goatroper Loop - 10/20/24

Cairn at start of Old Mining Roads / Top of Canyon 5

Deep part of Canyon 5

Ebb & Flow Trail with Sandstone Bluffs in Background

Starting out trail above Canyon 5

There are many hikes to do out of Wheeler Camp Springs Trailhead! We put together another hike from there using our explorations and suggestions and I think it's a real winner. I would like to put a fancy name on it but I tend to stick to the more descriptive monikers. We parked at the trailhead that is the next right turn after a large brown sign telling you to not feed the burros, if you are traveling toward Blue Diamond from the Red Rock visitor center. (If you are traveling the other direction, it is the next left turn after the mine road turns off to the right.) This trailhead is yet another "hidden" dirt turnout that forces you to slow down to find it. To begin the hike, cross SR 159, step over the fence and follow the bike tracks down into the wash on the right.

Bikers' bridge on Trail

Climbing up trail above Canyon 5

Rita on Canyon 5 Trail

Heading up Canyon 5 Wash

The bike trail takes you up the wide wash and turns you to the left to go up the hill. It continues along the wash and Canyon 5. If you choose to hike up the deep canyon, you will come to a very difficult class 3 scramble that I have only managed to climb up with help twice! Your choice! The trail takes you above the deepest part of the canyon and dumps you back into the wash. Continue hiking up the main part of the wash with a few class 2 scrambles. When you come to a wide fork in the wash that has rocks in the middle that look like the ones in the photo below, take the left fork. There are a few more small scrambles as you continue up. Reaching 2 miles into your hike, there is a wash that turns to the left. Taking this wash will keep you within Red Rock boundaries. 

Left turn junction in Canyon 5

Upper part of Canyon 5

White Rock mining road Marker to Right

Wooden post marker to Left

However, you will miss some interesting terrain and dangerous small air holes by not hiking over the hill in front of you to the left. (You will also miss the snake that Rita spied on her way over!) At any rate, again it is your choice. We chose to hike around this hill on the old mine roads since we didn't know until later that we were drifting out of bounds. We passed a large cairn on the right (see first photo) and came to a large flat white rock standing on its side. This white rock marks another old mine road. Directly across from the White Rock Road is the continuation of the road that circles up and around that little hill. We chose to take another old mine road up the hill to see what we could see. In the end, we discovered air holes, hills of dirt, fossils and the Red Rock boundary sign! Having seen enough, we eyed the easy hill to our west and decided to climb that hill up to the Goatroper bike trail that we knew was there. On the way up, we saw a large part of the present mining operation in the distance to our right and a large cairn as we neared the trail. We reached the trail at about 3 miles into the hike. Feeling very comfortable on the bike trail, we turned to the left and began our descent from what was to be our high point.

Interesting Stuff (spelling correction = brachiopod)

Alternate approach inside boundaries during crossover to Bushwhack Hill

Up canyon from crossover to Bushwhack Hill

Rita easily climbs Bushwhack Hill

The Goatroper Trail is a long trail that can be accessed at the top near the Cowboy Trails Trailhead. Used mostly by bikers with helmets on (!), the trail travels downhill from an overlook on a cliff above some of the mining operation. It zigzags in and out along the contours of a low-rising ridge as it descends toward SR 159 in the Blue Diamond / Bonnie Springs area. The views this trail affords are quite nice in the Bird Spring Formation. This geographic formation contains fossils from the Carboniferous and Permian periods. The Carboniferous period is often referred to as the Age of Amphibians. During this period, forests and swamps covered the land eventually becoming coal beds. (Wikipedia). 

Cairn near Goatroper Trail Junction

Starting down Goatroper Trail

Picturesque Goatroper bike Trail

Goatroper approach to Saddle

The Permian period began at the collapse of the Carboniferous period. This collapse left vast areas of desert where amniotes were much better at adapting. During the Permian, there were 3 or 4 mass extinctions and it took 30 million years, on into the Triassic era for ecosystems to recover. The fossils found in the Bird Springs Formation are some of the leftovers from this time. The Bird Spring Formation extends throughout much of the Red Rock Canyon NCA.

    We descended the Goatroper Trail for 0.7 miles until we came to a saddle resting between another canyon to the west. Here, as we have done before, we descended to that canyon finding the Ebb & Flow Trail.

Goatroper Trail Saddle / Exit canyon on Right

Ebb & Flow Trail at bottom of bushwhack Descent

Ebb & Flow Trail descending around toward Trailhead

Ebb & Flow crossing over to Trailhead

Another bike trail, the Ebb & Flow Trail has beautiful views. As the name implies, this trail also zigzags in and out among the contours of the hills. It circles around the ridge to the east and finally crosses the desert to join the Canyon 5 trail. A short hike back out the Canyon 5 wash returned us to our cars. Excellent hike!

Stats: 6 miles; 750' gain; 4.25 hours

Sandstone Bluffs from Ebb & Flow Trail

Ebb & Flow Trail flattens Out

Exiting through Canyon 5 Wash